Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, has raised concerns about a discrepancy in his latest poll on X, (formerly known as Twitter.) According to a post on X on Monday, Cuban highlighted a significant difference between the number of votes and the recorded engagements.

What Happened: Cuban’s poll, which asked users to choose between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in terms of character and persona for young children to emulate, received 804,000 votes. However, the analytics showed only 656,000 engagements. Cuban questioned this discrepancy by tagging Elon Musk.

He attached a screenshot of the X analytics, which are private to individuals, showing the 656,000 engagements. Cuban also included a screenshot of a response from Grok, which clarified that voting in a poll counts as an engagement. Grok explained that engagements on X include likes, retweets, comments, and poll responses.

Grok’s response emphasized that interactions with polls are tracked and contribute to the post’s engagement metrics. This includes not just voting but also any comments or further engagement sparked by the poll.

Cuban had publicly endorsed Harris, praising her business-friendly approach and dedication to the middle class. On the other hand, Musk had voiced his support for Trump, although describing himself as historically a moderate Democrat.

Cuban later endorsed the idea of eliminating “anonymous accounts on Twitter,” in a post, responding to a user’s question about whether he was questioning the results of free and fair elections.

Cuban said in a reply to a post, “I know everyone thinks this platform is a bastion of free speech. I see the opposite. It's only as free as Elon wants it to be. He can intimidate. He can alter the algorithm. He can suspend anyone he wants at any time. He is the ultimate arbiter of everything on here. And the biggest power play is him making everyone think their speech is free speech.”

See Also: While Elon Musk Is Busy Taking A Dig At Boeing After Starliner Fails To Bring Astronauts Back From ISS, A New SpaceX Competitor Emerges With A Larger Rocket That Could Challenge Billionaire’s Space Dominance

Why It Matters: Adding to the intrigue, Musk responded to a post that criticized Cuban, calling the “tenacity of his stupidity” a “marvel to behold.” This comment came after Cuban’s poll debacle.

Previously, Cuban had praised Musk’s influence, calling him “the most influential man in the world” due to his ownership of X. Cuban’s comments highlighted Musk’s global reach and the power he wields through the platform.

Moreover, Musk’s decision to charge $1 for new X accounts aims to combat platform abuse and bots, a move that could impact engagement metrics and user behavior on the platform.

The Cuban has previously defended Harris' economic strategies around subsidies for first-time homeowners and a federal prohibition on price-gouging. He lauds her push for discussions on healthcare transparency and cryptocurrency regulation.

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Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote